Power supplies are utilized to supply electronic power for a variety of devices. The type of power supply can vary depending on the power requirements for a given application. For regulated power supplies, some type of feedback or monitoring is used to control the level of regulated electrical power in the form of current or voltage.
One common type of power supply is a switched-mode power supply that employs one or more switches arranged as a converter to supply a regulated output voltage from a source to a load. The regulated output voltage is usually different level from the voltage of the source. The regulated voltage or current is controlled by varying the ratio of on to off time (e.g., duty cycle) of the switch or switches of the converter, such as through pulse-width modulation.
In many power applications, there is a need to process and report accurate load current information. Most existing solutions are either expensive to implement and/or may not provide sufficient accuracy.